Kitty Secret
by btamamura
Summary: So, how is it that Caboose found out about Wash's cat posters? This story explains it! Rated for language


**Disclaimer:** _I do not own Red vs. Blue, or the characters. They are the property of RoosterTeeth, etc._

**Notes: **_**Here it is, the story of how Caboose saw Wash's cat posters, and why he is the only other person permitted to enter Wash's room in their new base.**_

_**This has the usual language warning, and is friendship only. I apologise for any OOC moments. Enjoy!**_

"So, here is our new base. I like the waterfall," Caboose announced to Tucker and the newest member of the team.

Tucker looked around. "Yeah, the waterfall is a nice touch; we didn't have one in Blood Gulch."

"I suppose the rest of the base is similar to the one in Blood Gulch," the third Blue added.

"Yep! And we all have our own rooms!" Caboose stated.

"Oh, good! I was so tired of having three _guys_ crammed into the same room!" Tucker exclaimed. "Well, you gonna show us to our new rooms?"

"Okay! Come on, Church! I wanna show you your new room!"

The third sighed. "Caboose, I'm _Wash_."

That was almost a month ago. Wash sat in his new bedroom, having finally put up all of his cat posters. Near his bed, or rather cot, he had the two photos he'd kept in his locker aboard the Mother of Invention.

He loved cats, had since he was a young boy. That was one thing he knew was his, not another memory from Epsilon. Maybe he'd gone over the top with the posters and pictures, but they also came as a reminder that he was David, the man who had been known as Agent Washington, Recovery One and now, simply known as Wash (aside from Caboose accidentally calling him _Church_ every now and then).

The cats also brought him a sense of peace. He was a bit disappointed he couldn't have a real, living feline companion to pat and play with.

He was thinking more about cats and what they mean to him, when his train of thought was suddenly jolted off the tracks by the door bursting open.

"Wash! Tucker stole my colouring book!"

"GET OUT!"

With a slight yelp of surprise, Caboose slowly backed out of the room, seeing lots of adorable pictures. "Wash...?"

"I said get out! Get the fuck out!"

The door shut, and Caboose's footfalls could be heard running away from the room.

He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. He facepalmed. "Damn it. Way to keep your cool, Wash..." Maybe he was _slightly_ embarrassed that Caboose had seen something unexpected about him. Something he usually preferred to keep private.

Back in his Project Freelancer days, when he'd accidentally revealed his love of felines, or really, most of his adorkable personality, he was often teased by his comrades. But, none of them had been mean-spirited with their words...okay, maybe South was a little. Even so...

"I over-reacted. Maybe I should find Caboose and apologise for yelling at him like that. I mean, it's partly thanks to him I'm here instead of in prison. Again." He rose to his feet and made his way out of his room.

Caboose was happily back to colouring with his crayons, lying on his bedroom floor. He heard a knock. "If you're not Tucker, come in. If you are Tucker, go away."

The door opened, and Wash entered the room, rubbing the back of his neck and trying to evade his gaze from the younger blond. "Um...hey, Caboose."

"Hi, Wash!"

He was a little surprised at Caboose's tone. _I wouldn't sound that cheerful if someone yelled at me like I did to him earlier!_ "Um...just wanted to apologise for yelling at you like that. Even though you entered my room without permission, I still should not have used that tone on you. Sorry."

"Aw, it's okay! Church yelled at me all the time too!" He bowed his head, he looked a little sad.

"Caboose?"

"I miss Church...he will come back soon though."

Wash was relieved Caboose hadn't burst into tears after mentioning Church, unlike the first week after Wash had been inaugurated into Blue team. He'd had to stay in armour around the young Private until it had finally sunk in that he was not Private Leonard L. Church. "I'm sure he will." He moved his arm, feeling a little less awkward. "So, did you get your colouring book back? Or do I need to have a word with Tucker again?"

"I did not get it back. So, I'm drawing."

"I'll be sure to have a word with him again. So, what are you drawing?" He bent over and saw "kittens?"

"Kittens are cute. But, I don't like spiky kittens. They make me mad. So, I'm drawing non-spiky kittens."

"So, you like cats?"

"Yeah, so it made me happy when I saw that cute poster near your bed."

"It did? It's not strange for me to like cats?"

"Why would it be?"

He smiled. _I should've known. Caboose hardly has a mean bone in his body. Except when it comes to Tucker for some reason._ He straightened. "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Wanna see more cats?"

"More?"

"Okay, you can come in. But, what you see in here is a secret until I want to tell someone. Okay?"

"Okay, Wash! So, is this a shush-shush secret?"

He nodded, trying to appear serious. He failed, so he settled for patting the Private on the back affectionately. It was contradictory to his usual behaviour around others, especially the other sim troopers. But, there was something about the young spartan that brought his old-self out. "Yeah, it's very shush-shush."

"Okay!"

Wash opened the door. "Go ahead then."

Caboose stepped into the room, looking around at all of the cats. "So...many...non-spiky...cats...!"

"Yep. I'd been collecting these since I was a child."

Caboose saw the aging on some of the posters.

Wash smiled slightly as he saw Caboose look carefully at each picture. He saw genuine joy in the younger's blue eyes. "Like them?"

"Lots and lots! This room is very cute!" He made sure to keep his voice down. After all, it was a shush-shush secret, the biggest of them all.

"I like it like this. I'm relieved I could have my own room, just so I could put all of these up." He spotted his small photos of the different cats, and found two that were the same. _Hmm..._ He moved to the wall and removed the picture carefully. "Caboose?"

He turned away from the large picture of five snow-white kittens lined up and preparing to pounce at toys in front of each of them.

He approached the spartan. "Here, this is for you." He handed him the picture.

"Aww, a cute turtle-shell kitty-cat!"

He cleared his throat. "_Tortoise_-shell. But, yes, it is cute. I'm giving this to you."

"Me? But..."

"I already have that picture. You like cats too, right? Then, I can't think of anybody else I'd rather give it to."

"Thank you!" He wrapped his strong arms around him.

He patted his back awkwardly. "You're welcome."

He then let him go. "I need to find somewhere to put this! Oh, and I have something to give you too!" He grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the room, down the hall and into his own. He picked up the finished drawing of kittens. "Here! Now, you have more cute non-spiky cats in your room!"

"Thanks, Caboose." He accepted the drawing and smiled slightly. He noticed two things. The first was that Caboose's room had lots of crayon drawings on the walls, including one of the young spartan and Church holding hands and smiling. The second was that Caboose was still holding his wrist. "Um...can you please let me go?"

"Oh, okay!" He did and moved to his bed. He crawled onto it, then removed a pin from the wall. He used the pin to keep the cat picture on the wall. "There! Now, my room can look cute!"

"I'm going to head back to my room, but I'll have that talk with Tucker first. Thanks for the drawing."

"Okay! Bye, Church!"

He didn't correct him, just allowed him that slip since the Private wasn't facing him. "See ya." He stepped out of the room. "Now then, to have that talk with Tucker." He made his way out of the base, praying Tucker wasn't behind his rock. Again. That would've been the worst thing to see ever. Of all time.

Talk completed, thankfully nowhere near the rock, he returned to his room. He moved to the wall near his bedding and removed a couple of extra pins, using those to put Caboose's drawing on the wall. He smiled, it really did make his wall a little cuter...if that was physically possible. He noticed some mispelled and backwards scrawlings. "What's this? _**To Wash, from Caboose.**_He'd planned on giving it to me all along? Even if I was nothing but a complete asshole to him earlier?" He lay back on his bed. "Sometimes, he's too nice for his own good. Though...I guess that's not so bad."

He looked at the drawing again, smiling fondly at Caboose's mispelled writing. While he wouldn't trust Caboose to cover him in combat (he knew about the Private's team-killing history), he knew he could trust Caboose with his secret.


End file.
